New Legislation in Harrisburg Aims to Boost Bone Marrow Donor Numbers

Many persons with blood cancer do not have a compatible bone marrow donor in their family and are frantic to locate a stranger who is a match. Several Pennsylvania lawmakers hope to change that. They are introducing legislation to establish a public health education program to highlight the need for bone marrow donors.

It can be difficult for Pennsylvanians with leukemia and other blood malignancies to obtain a bone marrow donor match. For many people, obtaining a donor is their only option for a cure.

“We’ve all been affected by persons who have had various malignancies throughout our families and lives. Several members of my family have been touched by such situations. And I want to ensure that if someone is diagnosed with an illness, such as blood cancer, they have the best chance of survival,” said Pennsylvania State Representative Joe McAndrew, who represents Penn Hills, Plum, Oakmont, and Verona.

McAndrew said he’s working with a few other members on a bill that would create a bone marrow donor recruitment program and database overseen by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. He stated that the goal is to raise awareness and educate individuals about the importance of bone marrow donations and how to join the national register.

“It would create a database that we would be able to pull from whenever someone doesn’t have a match for bone marrow,” Mr. McAndrew said. “Since 70% of patients in need of a transplant do not have a fully matched donor in their family, doctors will use this database to help discover an unrelated donor from the national registry. More people need to join the registry so that patients have a better chance of finding a match.

Tony Deluca, a longtime Pennsylvania state representative, was referenced in the memorandum distributed to all House members. Deluca died in October 2022. He was fighting lymphoma, a cancer he had overcome twice previously. According to the letter, “This is an issue that has directly affected the families of several House members in recent years, including our colleague, Tony DeLuca.”

“My father-in-law is currently undergoing leukemia treatment. My predecessor, Representative DeLuca, died from a similar sort of leukemia. And I am confident that providing people with access to this life-saving therapy will help to move the ball forward for our people’s health,” McAndrew stated.

Rep. McAndrew stated that they conducted a study for this measure and discovered that around 200,000 Pennsylvanians are willing to donate bone marrow, and they believe that this legislation will assist individuals in deciding whether or not to be added to the life-saving donor registry. “This comes from living donors. “You can donate repeatedly, and it will result in more people being saved,” he explained.

Rep. McAndrew stated that they are going to begin the process of moving this donor recruiting legislation through the Pennsylvania House.